‘Hem, hem! I am sorry, sir--I am very sorry, Colonel Mannering, that Miss Bertram should suppose--that any prejudice, in short--or idea that anything on my part--’
‘Sir,’ said the inflexible Colonel, ‘where no accusation is made, excuses or explanations are unnecessary. Have you any objection to communicate to me, as Miss Bertram’s temporary guardian, the circumstances which you conceive to interest her?’
‘None, Colonel Mannering; she could not choose a more respectable friend, or one with whom I, in particular, would more anxiously wish to communicate frankly.’
‘Have the goodness to speak to the point, sir, if you please.’
‘Why, sir, it is not so easy all at once--but Mr. Hazlewood need not leave the room,--I mean so well to Miss Bertram that I could wish the whole world to hear my part of the conference.’
‘My friend Mr. Charles Hazlewood will not probably be anxious, Mr. Glossin, to listen to what cannot concern him. And now, when he has left us alone, let me pray you to be short and explicit in what you have to say. I am a soldier, sir, somewhat impatient of forms and introductions.’ So saying, he drew himself up in his chair and waited for Mr. Glossin’s communication.
‘Be pleased to look at that letter,’ said Glossin, putting Protocol’s epistle into Mannering’s hand, as the shortest way of stating his business.
The Colonel read it and returned it, after pencilling the name of the writer in his memorandum-book. ‘This, sir, does not seem to require much discussion. I will see that Miss Bertram’s interest is attended to.’
‘But, sir,--but, Colonel Mannering,’ added Glossin, ‘there is another matter which no one can explain but myself. This lady--this Mrs. Margaret Bertram, to my certain knowledge, made a general settlement of her affairs in Miss Lucy Bertram’s favour while she lived with my old friend Mr. Bertram at Ellangowan. The Dominie--that was the name by which my deceased friend always called that very respectable man Mr. Sampson--he and I witnessed the deed. And she had full power at that time to make such a settlement, for she was in fee of the estate of Singleside even then, although it was life rented by an elder sister. It was a whimsical settlement of old Singleside’s, sir; he pitted the two cats his daughters against each other, ha, ha, ha!’
‘Well, sir,’ said Mannering, without the slightest smile of sympathy, ‘but to the purpose. You say that this lady had power to settle her estate on Miss Bertram, and that she did so?’